Marikina pawnshops told to get alarm systems

The local government of Marikina City warned pawnshops and lending institutions that their business permits would not be renewed unless they install an alarm system in their establishments as a deterrent to crime.

Apolonio Santos, head of the Business Permit and Licensing Office (BPLO), said his office will strictly implement starting this week Ordinance 145, which requires pawnshops and lending institutions to install the alarm system that would be connected to the local police.

“We will make the rounds of establishments this week and those without an alarm system will not be allowed to renew their business permits,” said Santos, adding that violators of the ordinance, which was passed in 2005, will be fined P2,000.

Marikina police chief Superintendent Sotero Ramos Jr. said compliance to the said ordinance by pawnshops and lending institutions would go a long way in their effort to curb criminality in the city.

“Criminals would now think twice to strike at pawnshops and lending institutions once they have an alarm system connected to the local police headquarters,” said Ramos.

Records show that of the 105 pawnshops and lending institutions based in the city, only 25 employ security guards, while 57 were armed with alarm systems and 32 with closed-circuit TV (CCTV) cameras.

However, Vice Mayor Marion Andres, chairman of the city’s peace and order council, said they are in the process of amending Ordinance 145 to require pawnshop owners and lending institutions to install CCTV cameras in their establishments as well.

While an alarm system is effective as a pre-emptive measure against criminality, CCTV cameras will greatly help the local police in solving robberies of these establishments, Andres emphasized.

Ramos said the move to require pawnshops and lending institutions to install CCTV cameras was in line with the program of City Mayor Maria Lourdes Fernando to install video cameras in “malls, parks, commercial centers, barangays and highly-populated areas of the city as a deterrent against criminality. (She) wanted banks and other business establishments to be included in her program.”

Fernando’s project was aimed at bring the crime rate down to further attract local and foreign investors, Ramos said. – Non Alquitran